'Dignity Act' seeks to overhaul immigration amid crisis: 'Revolutionary bill'
5. Pathway for DACA, 'Dreamers'
The Dignity Act would also offer a pathway for up to 10 years of conditional permanent resident status to those who entered the U.S. as minors and have lived in the country continuously before 2021.
Like participants in the Dignity Program, the approximately 2.5 million DACA recipients and so-called "Dreamers" would be subject to a criminal background check. Their status could be upgraded to fully lawful permanent resident status after meeting certain education, work or military service requirements, as well as paying a fee of up to $1,140.
The editorial board of National Review worried that green cards for Dreamers and the potentially indefinite "Dignity Status" of Dignity Program participants would lead to what they described last month as "a two-tiered category of people," some of whom are permitted to remain and work in the country indefinitely while being neither citizens nor lawful permanent residents.
Such a concern was echoed by Andrew Arthur at the Center for Immigration Studies, who warned last month that the Dignity Act effectively proposes "two different amnesties."
"This bill was designed to go nowhere, but its filing shows a failure to read the room of voters who brought Donald Trump back to the White House in November 2024," he wrote, describing the bill as "rage bait for those clamoring for greater enforcement of the immigration laws."
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
